


Atlas and His Burden

by HedReina



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bisexual Bow (She-Ra), Bisexual Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Entrapta Being Entrapta (She-Ra), F/F, F/M, Gay Rights, Glimmer (She-Ra) Swears, Human Catra (She-Ra), LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Catra (She-Ra), Lesbian Disaster Adora (She-Ra), M/M, Minor Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Multi, Scorpia (She-Ra) is a Good Friend, Useless Lesbians
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:26:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26635081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HedReina/pseuds/HedReina
Summary: Silence never used to bother Catra. There was always something calming about a break in conversation, or a quiet pocket in a rowdy crowd. That was before, of course. Now, there were too many mistakes that could be made in the silence.AKA: The Catradora zombie AU that literally only I asked for. Enjoy!
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Entrapta & Scorpia (She-Ra), Catra & Scorpia (She-Ra), Kyle/Lonnie/Rogelio (She-Ra), Kyle/Rogelio (She-Ra), Netossa/Spinnerella (She-Ra)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Atlas and His Burden

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for giving this fic a chance! It's my first on on AO3, so bear with me while I figure out the ins and outs of the server, and hopefully you'll enjoy the story.  
> I certainly take no credit for the brilliance that is She-Ra and The Princesses of Power, or any of its characters.

**Chapter One:The Shoulders That Bear It**

Silence never used to bother Catra. There was always something calming about a break in conversation, or a quiet pocket in a rowdy crowd. That was before, of course. Now, there were too many mistakes that could be made in the silence.

**_*CRACK*_ **

The telltale sound of a branch breaking underfoot snapped Catra out of her head, and back into her present position. Pressing herself closer to the tree she was hiding behind, the brunette rested her hand on the hilt of the dagger strapped to her waist. A pile leaves shuffled closer to her hiding spot, and Catra focused on making her breaths as shallow as possible. She waited a couple of seconds, her ears meeting nothing but silence. Unnerving, unforgiving silence. Straining her ears, Catra waited for another giveaway to her company’s location. It was only another moment before she heard it, a stifled grunt to her left. Fixing a smirk on her face and letting go of her weapon, the brunette shifted to stick her foot out from behind the tree. A sudden weight caught her ankle, sending a gangly blonde boy crashing into the underbrush beside her. Catra crossed her arms, looking down at the teen as he wiped pine straw and mud from his face.

_ “Honestly Kyle, you’re like a walking flare gun. It’s a fucking miracle you haven’t been snatched yet.” _

He whimpered in response before pulling himself up.

_ “You could’ve just told me you were nearby.” _

Catra raised an eyebrow.

_ “I could’ve, but there’s no fun in that. You shouldn’t be out here anyways, I always check the traps solo.” _

Kyle did his best to match the brunette’s careful strides towards the tree behind them.

_ “Lonnie sent me, you don’t usually take this long. We were uh worr-” _

A pointedly harsh look from Catra redirected his sentence. 

_ “We were just wondering if there would be meat to cook tonight, is all. _ ”

The brunette let out a frustrated grunt, looking down at the makeshift trap in front of her. Empty and untouched, just as the other nine had been. This would be the third night in a row that her traps had yielded disappointing results. She turned around, silently stalking back towards camp, Kyle trailing anxiously behind her. 

**_* * * * * * * * * * *_ **

As soon as the rickety wooden gate was secured behind the pair, Catra set off in the direction of her tent. She vaguely registered Lonnie’s watchful eyes following her as she passed the campfire, and heard Scorpia’s hopeful attempt at calling her over to join them. Pushing through the entrance to her tent, Catra shrugged her leather jacket off her shoulders before plopping down heavily onto her bedroll. She wiped her hands on her jeans before letting her face fall into them. Catra knew it was unreasonable to blame herself for the lack of wild game lately, nobody else in the group did. Though, Catra was never known to be a reasonable person. What kind of leader couldn’t provide a decent meal for their group?

‘ _ A failure’, _ hissed a menacing voice in Catra’s head. She shuddered, gritting her teeth at the malice behind the thought. 

_ ‘A fraud, killing your friends slowly, trying to prove a point to nobody but yourself.’. _

Before Catra could go any further into her familiar spiral, a voice outside her tent interrupted.

_ “Catra? I, uh, I brought you some food. Lonnie said you’d come get it when you got hungry, but I’m pretty much always hungry, and I noticed you skipped out on breakfast today, again, so I thought you were probably pretty hungry by now and-” _

Rolling her eyes, Catra straightened her posture.

_ “Quit babbling and just come in already Scorpia.” _

The taller woman stepped through the entrance of the tent, crouching so her head wouldn’t brush against the canvas. She plopped down next to Catra, sloshing some of the greyish liquid onto the brunette’s jeans as she landed.

_ “Whoops! Isn't that just like clumsy ol' me, huh Catra? I’ll take care of that, don't you worry, just a little water and it’ll come right out.” _

The brunette rolled her eyes and took the bowl that Scorpia held out to her. 

“ _ It's just a little soup I whipped together from the berries and herbs Rojelio was able to find today. I don’t want to brag, but I think I’m really getting the hang of pairing everything he finds!” _

Catra barely suppressed a gag as the smell of the broth hit her nose full force. She glanced up and met wide, expectant eyes before holding her breath and wordlessly forcing down a sip. A few moments passed before Scorpia started to anxiously fidget with the frayed hem of her tank top. 

_ “Spit it out Scorpia, what’d they send you in here to ask me?” _

The larger woman glanced away nervously, like a child caught in a lie. 

_ “It’s just that, the traps have been coming up empty for a while now, as you know of course. While Rogelio was out foraging today he says he found an old gas station, one that looks pretty untouched, and we were thinking-” _

Catra shot up off the bedroll, the bowl in her lap tumbling forward and spilling the remainder of the questionable soup onto the ground.

_ “No.” _

Scorpia winced, but continued.

_ “I know our last raid didn’t go so well, and we all feel terrible about what happened to Octavia, but we really feel ready to try again. Lonnie said her knee barely even bothers her anymore!” _

Whirling around to face Scorpia, Catra bared her teeth.

_ “I said no Scorpia.” _

Scorpia leaned down to pick up the discarded dish, not meeting the brunette’s eyes.

_ “I hear you boss, really I do, we all know what kind of risk another raid means but I also know you’re smart enough to know it’s our only option right now.” _

The shorter woman ground her teeth together before closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, willing the harsh ringing in her ears to muffle Scorpia as she slipped into another familiar ramble.

_ “You’re really the smartest person I know now that I think about it. Of course, I haven’t met very many people, I never was a social butterfly, but-” _

Catra crossed her arms over her chest, willing her left eye not to twitch as she cleared her throat.

“ _ You okay there Catra? Your face is doing that weird scrunchy thing again.” _

A pale gloved hand reached out with the intention of gently poking the crease between Catra’s eyebrows, only to pass through air as the shorter girl turned her head to the side. 

_ “Tell the group to be ready at dawn. I want this to be a quick and easy raid. In and out.” _

Scorpia nodded quickly and puffed out her chest, mustering as much authority into her stance as she could . 

_ “Right, dawn, got it one hundred percent. You can count on me to make sure everyone’s ready Catra, that’s for sure.” _

Catra watched with a raised eyebrow as Scorpia gave her a mock salute, bowl still in hand, before turning to make her way out of the tent. Once she was alone again, the brunette let out a breath, allowing her posture to sag slightly. It wouldn’t be like last time. They would be smarter, more prepared. Suppressing the heavy anxiety that had settled in the pit of her chest, Catra laid back on her bedroll in a vain attempt to get a couple hours of rest before dawn.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you again for reading, and please let me know what you think!


End file.
